Noise Pop. There’s something rather glorious about that description isn’t there? The term ‘pop’ has slowly been diluted over the past couple of decades, taken by the likes of Gaga et al to basically label anything that is played by mainstream radio that isn’t hip-hop. Noise Pop, though, offers something far more raw and menacing while still retaining those little hooks and melodies that can still make your heart skip a little beat no matter who or where it’s coming from.

Amy Blue make noise pop. The four-piece from London have already won a host of fans, including 6Music, with their own brand of fuzzy, energetic, boisterous pop music. After the success of their debut LP The Fortress and The Fatalist the band released a digital-only collection of unreleased songs and are now set to unveil their brand new EP, On The Pleasure Of Hating. The EP is big step forward for the band, sounding more brash and confident than ever it also contains by far their finest song to date in the form of the wonderfully over-blown Scissors which clock in just shy of the eight-minute mark. All proceeds will go to the Japanese Red Cross to help those affected by the recent earthquake so head over to their Bandcamp page by clicking here to make your purchase.

GoldFlakePaint caught up with JP from the band to find out a little more about Amy Blue, the reaction to the band thus far and their thoughts on Eiffel 65. Obviously…

Sure. There are four of us. Simon and JP handle the guitar and vocal duties, Trev is on bass and Lex does all the super-powered drumming. She’s a she, too.

What can you tell us about the bands background?

Simon and JP formed the band back in 2003 as an electronic project – laptop and two guitars and about twenty pedals each. We were masters at clearing out venues because we were SO LOUD and it was upsetting other bands fans who’d come along to listen to songs about breakups and sticker albums. JP met Lex a few years later, who happened to be one of the most amazing drummers and begged her to join. Then Trev came along, and we became a four-piece and started trying out new sounds. And that’s where we’re at now.

Where did the name Amy Blue come from?

JP and Simon are both big fans of US director Greg Araki, and the main character from his 1995 film The Doom Generation, played by Rose McGowan, was called Amy Blue. It’s an odd band name too, so we thought people would remember it. And we were dead against called ourselves The (insert random word here)…

Have you been pleased with the reaction to the songs on your Bandcamp?

Yes! That site is a dream. Now MySpace is dead, it’s been the best place for people to try out new music for free (or pay-what-you-want). Lots of people are trying out all of the releases we’ve uploaded… there’s our early electronic stuff, the first album which is straight-ahead-rock with some obligatory Sonic Youth feedback nonsense.. then the ambient/acoustic ‘Tinder Tape’ for those who can’t hack noise. Hopefully the new EP excites people enough that they go back and listen to the lot.

Do you have a favourite track of your own?

JP: Entropy for Atrophy. It’s one of Simon’s and it’s so different from everything we’ve done so far. Great lyrics.

How would you describe your bands sound and who/what are your influences?

There’s quite a mix of influences between all the members, so we’ll give you a list from hell in no particular order: Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, Guided By Voices, Wire, …Trail of Dead, Silversun Pickups, Pavement, Joy Division, The Manics (when Richey was with them), PJ Harvey, REM, Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her…

Can you describe your songwriting process?

Simon writes his songs at home alone when he isn’t tending to screaming things. JP does the same, but with less screaming. They send the demos round to the other guys, we rehearse them and after finding non of us can play them, we rework the structures in the studio, adding new parts as we go along. Lyrics are usually last minute… some go through major rewrites (JP wrote over ten drafts of lyrics for ‘The Fatalist’ for instance). We’ll also build things up from scratch in rehearsal from jams, as that’s a great way to come up with new riffs and ideas.

What are your plans for the rest of 2011?

April 25th is the release date for ‘On the Pleasure of Hating’, a free four track EP you can grab from bandcamp. We’re following that up shortly with a deluxe version with six bonus tracks that will be pay what you want (and all the proceeds go to the Japan Earthquake Relief fund), and an artbook version by our friend Martin Stiff which will have a remix CD in as well. We’ve also got thirty new songs recorded which we have to whittle down for a brand new album release that will be out before the end of the year. Plus a label showcase and lots of shows around the UK!

Finally, which one wins… Blue by Eiffel 65 or Blue the classic noughties pop band?

‘Blue’ (the song) has a more sophisticated chorus line than anything that spewed from the mouths of the latter-mentioned twunts, and badly animated blue aliens are pretty popular with the kids these days, so let’s go for the Eiffels.